Aspirations Programme Quarterly Report Q3 (01 October 31 December 2018) Page 1 of 18
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INDEX Resident Journey 4 Referral and Moving In 5 Personal Development 6 Complex Needs 7 Health and Wellbeing 8 Education and Training 9 Volunteering 10 Employment 11 Moving Forwards and Moving On 12 Community Resilience 13 Highlights 14 Resident Composition 15 Outputs to Date 17 Caritas Anchor House (CAH) is a residential and life-skills centre for single homeless adults in Canning Town, Newham, and acts as a community empowerment hub in the local area. Our driving mission is to provide education, guidance and personal rehabilitation to those who walk through our doors to allow them to grow in confidence and move towards leading independent lives. CAH works with vulnerable groups including those affected by homelessness, offending, mental health, substance misuse, domestic abuse and unemployment. We have a holistic approach and use our innovative Aspirations Programme, developed in collaboration with our residents. The programme addresses all aspects of their life, including health and wellbeing, recreational and therapeutic activities, maintaining relationships, financial management, education, volunteering, training, back to work preparation and support to achieve independent living. If you would like to find out more about what we do or come to visit our services, please do get in touch by calling us on 0207 476 6062, or by email at info@caritasanchorhouse.org.uk Page 3 of 18
Resident Journey Caritas Anchor House s driving mission is to ensure that those who walk through our doors grow in confidence and move towards leading independent lives by providing education, guidance and personal rehabilitation. Staff and residents work together from the moment of referral to support the resident through their time at CAH in their journey from homelessness to sustainable tenancies. This is done through our Aspirations Programme, outlined here. Page 4 of 18
Referral and Moving In The referrals process marks the start of a resident's journey with Caritas Anchor House. It is a vital process for ensuring a good fit between individuals and the CAH community. We are keen to work with those who have experienced homelessness and have demonstrated a commitment to take active steps back into independent living. Rather than managing individual referrals directly, we work in partnership with referral agencies, including the London Borough of Newham s Housing Options Team. Members of our Referrals Team conduct a referral assessment with an individual, to explore their needs and share the expectations of our service. We are keen to ensure that expectations are understood and agreed regarding engagement and that an individual has a commitment to address the issues that led to their homelessness. These expectations and agreements form the foundation of the contract pack. The induction focuses on engaging residents in the expectations and service offering, and is key to welcoming individuals to the community and supporting them to begin setting their future goals and objectives. Our aim is to inform and inspire a resident from their very first day here, to recognise the support available to them and realise their potential to succeed whilst at CAH and beyond. Page 5 of 18
Personal Development When residents arrive at CAH they are assigned a Keyworker who meets with that resident on a regular basis during key working sessions. Keyworkers are part of our Personal Development Team. Together with their Keyworkers, residents explore different areas of their lives and set meaningful, personal goals. This includes a variety of areas that they believe will help them to end their homelessness sooner. These goals are reviewed regularly. The Personal Development Team work with our resident group to help them rebuild their lives, supporting them through any barriers they may have into independent living and becoming an active member of the community. The team is central to guiding our residents through the CAH journey and nurturing personal development. Personal development includes ensuring an individual has valid identification (such as a passport), which is key to securing employment. It also involves engaging with development tools such as the Homelessness Outcomes Star - a tool used across the sector to assess where people are on their journey to independent living. Page 6 of 18
Complex Needs The Personal Development Team support residents with complex needs on a regular basis through key working sessions. Within the team, specialist leads for complex needs provide extra assistance for anybody experiencing enhanced needs as a result of mental health, criminal justice, substance use and domestic abuse issues. They are referred to appropriate external agencies that we work in partnership with where necessary. This dedicated support has led to many successes including residents with historical substance misuse issues being discharged from treatment services and successfully finding planned long-term accommodation. Page 7 of 18
Health and Wellbeing CAH aims to improve the health and wellbeing of all our residents as part of our holistic Aspirations Programme. Working together with the residents, our Keyworkers help individuals to construct their own healthy futures allowing them to maintain long-term tenancies upon move on. CAH is currently collaborating with Goldsmith s University to develop our health and wellbeing offering. As more residents report mental health issues, we are looking to support them better throughout their time with us. Page 8 of 18
Education and Training Education and training are vital stepping stones in both preventing homelessness and helping those who have lost their homes. Learning new skills helps our residents and service users to improve their selfesteem and gain experience so that they can re-enter the workforce. Every year, we provide residents and local community members with the opportunity to access a wide range of accredited vocational training courses. Course offerings are tailored to each person in accordance with their strengths, ambitions and experience. This is done by conducting a Training Needs Analysis with each resident upon induction to CAH. Page 9 of 18
Volunteering CAH encourages and supports residents and community members into employment. This is done through the Education, Training and Employment (ETE) offering and volunteering opportunities. Volunteering opportunities are available internally and externally of the CAH buildings. Internal volunteering might include Catering, supporting the Fundraising and Marketing and Maintenance departments, as well as roles such as Fire Wardens. Volunteering is organised and supported by CAH for both residents and members of the local community. Page 10 of 18
Employment CAH supports and encourages all residents to move into sustainable employment in order to help them realise and achieve their ambitions. This support is provided through key working, wellbeing projects, education/training programmes and volunteering. CAH works in partnership with a number of organisations, including Learning and Skills Solutions (LASS), to enable residents to improve their employability. LASS is a private sector company that provides tailored, flexible and free training programmes for young people and adults. Local community members also attend these workshops, which are held at CAH. Enabling residents to seek, apply to and sustain appropriate employment is a priority for CAH. Stable and sustained income is a key contributor to a successful move on. Thanks to a grant from the Big Lottery Fund and several smaller donations, CAH is able to devote more resources to promote and achieve this aim. This quarter: Page 11 of 18
Moving Forwards and Moving On The Move On Team help those who are ready to move on from CAH to source and secure accommodation. As the London housing crisis deepens and the local authority housing stock becomes increasingly insufficient to meet demand, this has been increasingly difficult. Despite this, CAH continues to support residents into local authority housing, with 47 attendances at Local Housing Authority bidding sessions. The Team has also focused on building strong relationships with private landlords who provide decent, affordable housing options to our residents who are ready to move on and end their homelessness. CAH also has 25 move-on flats on-site, designed to help residents achieve a sustainable transition back into independent living. Here, residents have more responsibility for their lives, but continue to receive support from Keyworkers. Page 12 of 18
Community Resilience As well as our in-house programmes, CAH delivers services to those in our local community through projects such as Your Space. Our Your Space project is a community-based therapeutic service run from CAH. It provides discussion groups in a safe and non-judgemental environment, and is currently investing in building partnerships with women s empowerment organisations in order to promote and support members wellbeing. This quarter the Your Space team has been working hard to develop a Theory of Change in collaboration with people who attend the sessions. This work will allow CAH to ensure that this work remains as impactful as possible for those who need it. This has involved consulting with community members to hear what they value about the service so we can continue to build on these strengths. Page 13 of 18
Highlights Read more news from the quarter on our website: www.caritasanchorhouse.org.uk Page 14 of 18
Resident Composition The London Borough of Newham is one of the most deprived boroughs in England, and CAH is located in Newham s second most deprived neighbourhood. The borough has the highest level of homelessness in the country, with 1 in every 24 people without a home. (Source: The English Indices of Deprivation and Shelter) Page 15 of 18
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Outputs to Date Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Outputs Last Year s Target to Date Outputs for Year First-Stage Move-On 1 9 4 14 22 - Move-on (planned) 6 19 15 40 91 80 Move-on (un-planned) 5 8 4 17 40 <25 Average length of stay (months) 8 14 14 13 9.6 <12 Residents into employment 21 8 8 37 45 50 Residents with PDPs 98% 96% 96% 97% 93% 90% Residents with CVs 90% 87% 85% 87% 77% 80% Residents registered with GP 93% 94% 90% 92% 93% 90% Resident attendances at community events 7 10 31 48 154 150 Resident volunteering sessions 253 152 79 484 1158 1500 Referrals received 59 90 78 227 592 n/a Referral assessments completed 24 31 25 78 158 n/a Accepted and booked in 21 24 20 65 126 n/a Throughput (number of people we accommodated) 151 164 157 195 262 230 Occupancy rate 98% 97% 98% 98% 97.6% 97% Complex Needs Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total Individuals Issues with Substance Misuse 35 38 36 47 Issues with Mental Health 55 58 64 75 Issues with Criminal Justice 7 10 11 14 Issues with Domestic Violence 20 19 18 25 Residents with one or more of the above needs Attendances at AA/CA meetings 77 86 85 106 >1000 >1000 >1000 N/A Page 17 of 18
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